'Miracle baby' who weighed 1 lb when she was born at 25 weeks discharged from hospital

A baby who was delivered when she was just 25 weeks old and weighed just 1lb, 4oz when she was born, has finally been discharged from the hospital and allowed to go home. Nassau County Executive Laura Curran and hospital staff members who helped care for her were present during the special ceremony that saw her leave with mother Jennifer Pena de Mena.

According to the Daily Mail, Mena was hospitalized in June with unknown complications in her pregnancy. When the baby's heart rate began declining at an alarming rate, doctors took the difficult decision to deliver her 13 weeks prematurely.

Hannah Bella Rodriguez was born through an emergency cesarean section and dubbed the "miracle baby" when she was born at the Nassau Medical University Center in East Meadow, Long Island, on July 11. At the time, she was the size of an average adult's hand.

She was subsequently placed in an incubator, where doctors cared for her over the last few months. Despite the odds of her survival being against her — statistics indicate that babies born at 24 weeks only have a 40 percent chance of survival — Hannah would pull through and weigh a healthy 5lbs and 5oz at the time of her discharging.

Speaking about the decision to deliver her daughter early during the release ceremony, Mena said, "I was so scared, but they [the doctors] helped me a lot. I was crying in the surgery room, but they held my hands and they told me everything is for your baby."

Mena also made sure she thanked the doctors and nurses who ensured the survival of her baby and her. "I never lost my faith," she revealed. "She's always going to be my beautiful baby, and I love her. I am in love with her." She said that Hannah would continue to attend premature baby appointments and that "everything is going to be OK."

Hannah was one of close to 450,000 children who are born prematurely in America each year. She was reportedly the youngest and smallest ever baby to be born at the Nassau Medical University Center and Dr. John Riggs revealed that survival rates are often grim. "There are many patients around the gestational age that don't make it," he said. "They don't survive or have some serious problems."

Curran posted pictures of her interacting with the mother and baby on her Facebook page and wished both continued good health.

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MEAWW is an initialism for Media Entertainment Arts WorldWide. We are one of the world’s fastest growing
media-tech companies with hubs around the world. MEAWW brings you the best content from its global team of
reporters on a platform technologically tailored to meet the needs of the modern reader.